How is it best to store coffee beans while on vacation?

I'll be away from home for a few weeks. What is the best way to store my remaining open packages of Dunkin Donuts coffee while I'm gone? Cupboard? Refrigerator? Freezer?

ANSWER:

It's nice to know you appreciate your coffee enough to want to keep it fresh while you're away!

The trick with storing coffee, whether it's whole beans or ground, is to keep it away from the air. The air starts to oxidize the coffee and you'll also lose some of the coffee's volatile oils through evaporation. Much of the flavour of your coffee is contained in those oils.

So the first thing you want to do it put it into a totally airtight container.

You can double seal it in Ziploc bags, or keep it in a tin or a jar. Just make sure no air gets in or out.

The next step is to put it into the freezer. Not in the fridge. If you put it into the fridge and there is even the tiniest exchange of air... you might end up with damp, onion-flavored coffee when you get back home.

To summarize: Sealed container + freezer.

Comments for How is it best to store coffee beans while on vacation?

In the future, if you can buy your coffee in beans rather than ground, you should do this.
Then invest in a small burr grinder. They can be had for around $40. Then grind only what you will use in a day.
Keep your beans in an airtight container( I use a glass jar with a flip top glass lid with rubber seal) and store in the cupboard.
Roasted beans will stay relativly fresh for at least a month. Ground coffee is stale after a week.
The only time I freeze coffee is when I buy a new batch. I buy 5 pounds of fresh roasted beans at a time from my favorite roaster. I put the bags in the freezer until I need one. Once it is out of the freezer don't freeze it again.